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American students visit Ghana
Education
Student from US

American students visit Ghana

A group of 11 American students from the Northeastern University, Boston, are visiting Ghana on a one-month educational tour as part of their practical lessons.

Their itinerary include visits to basic, senior high and tertiary institutions, as well as orphanages and special schools for physically-challenged children in the Greater Accra, Central, Eastern and Ashanti regions.

With funds mobilised from their personal savings and parental support, the students were able to buy and donate various educational items to some of the educational institutions on their visiting schedule.

The items include desktop and laptop computers which are meant for the establishment of a computer laboratory for the Church of Christ Basic School in Cape Coast.

A second batch of 23 students pursuing mainly health programmes are expected to arrive in the country in July for a similar study visit.

Good experiences

The annual study tour by the American students, which is in the third year running, is organised by Dr Vanessa Johnson, an Associate Professor at the Northeastern University, in collaboration with Brisk Tour Consult based in Ghana.

Dr Johnson, who is also the Director of the College Student Development & Counselling Programme, Department of Counselling & Applied Education Psychology, Northeastern University, is happy about the impact of the study tour on the students.

“They always talked about how coming to Ghana has changed their lives. It gave them different perspectives; it's made them much more patriotic about helping to develop their country,” she said.

“Every year, I say ‘this will be my last year', but then I get emails from some of my students, saying, ‘a friend of mine came and I heard they had a wonderful time'. So every time somebody is enthusiastic about coming here,” she added.

Experiences of students

One of the students, Crystal Shaugnessy, said her expectations for the visit had been “more than met”, adding that she had learnt a lot about culture, language and many other new things.

For her part, Kaitlyn Lipuma, a Behaviour Neuro Science student, said she was intrigued by the proverbial Ghanaian hospitality.

“I really enjoyed Aburi Botanical Gardens…. I just found the nature and the culture amazing. I admired wood carvings of Africa; that was gorgeous… I also enjoyed the Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum,” she said.

Elizabeth Ronan, a Mathematics and Computer Science student, has enjoyed the food, language, dance and everything Ghanaian, but there is something she cannot leave behind: “I'm taking back lessons of hospitality and kindness”.

Given his blood connection with Africa, Moroccan-born Adam Kamoune could not help savouring every moment of the visit in an experience he descried as “one of pampered”.

“In the US, we all focus on the individual and here you focus on your family and your country. I prefer that type of culture where it's more communal,” he said.

Connecting Ghana and the world

The Chief Executive Officer of Brisk Tour Consult, Edward Tetteh, said the company was set up to facilitate visits of particularly students and professionals from the developed world to share experiences with their Ghanaian counterparts for mutual benefit.

He said the aim was also to use such visits and interactions to positively impact on the lives of under-privileged communities and institutions.

Mr Tetteh said over the past three years, Brisk Tour Consult had, through its collaboration with Northeastern University, supported many orphanages, educational and health institutions with computers, brail machines, sports equipment and medical supplies.

Source: Graphic.com.gh

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